Iain Duncan Smith’s visit to Scotland has descended into chaos after he was
ambushed by Left-wing protesters who said he was a “rat bag” for pushing
ahead with welfare reform.

The Work and Pensions Secretary was about to deliver a speech at a conference in Edinburgh discussing the changes when he was interrupted by Willie Black, a former candidate for Tommy Sheridan’s Solidarity party.

Mr Duncan Smith stood silently on stage as Mr Black delivered a lengthy tirade, which culminated with him telling the minister to get “back to England where you belong, you rat bag”.

However, the protester appeared upset when the delegates, who included representatives from the Scottish Government, councils and charities, did not applaud his oratory.

When his comments were met with silence, Mr Black, from Edinburgh, called them “parasites” and turned on his heel. Mr Duncan Smith joked about his warm welcome, before starting to read his speech.

However, he did not get far before being interrupted by two more protesters sat at one of the delegate tables, a man and a woman who started loudly heckling the former Tory leader.

He has faced the fiercest opposition over the so-called bedroom tax, whereby social housing tenants have their housing benefit cut if they have empty bedrooms.

This time Mr Duncan Smith decided to plough on with his speech but was forced to repeatedly raise his voice as the second tirade grew increasingly loud.

But the minister, who as Conservative leader said “do not underestimate the determination of a quiet man”, was all but drowned out by the protests despite almost shouting into his microphone.

As they yelled at him, Mr Duncan Smith told them: “If you listen to what I am saying, you will understand the reality is that this country is not cutting welfare, it is managing the growth at a lower level.”

The pair, who were partially sighted, left the room and started conducting media interviews with newspapers and television stations. They gave their names as Jonathan Smith and Charli Sabenfox but it later emerged these were pseudonyms.

Ms Sabenfox, who writes under that name for a website called Socialist Unity, said her son has learning difficulties and she is disabled.

“If they take away everything from us we have nothing to lose. That means we have everything to fight for and that is what we are going to do,” she said, as a group of picketers protested outside the hotel where the conference was staged.

Speaking afterwards, Mr Duncan Smith, a former Scots Guards, did not appear rattled by his hostile reception and insisted the benefits reform was needed

He said the current system is “unfair on taxpayers, it is unfair on those in overcrowded accommodation and it is unfair that one group of housing benefit tenants cannot have spare bedrooms and another group are subsidised.”